To the editor: As the manager producer of a brief documentary on obstetrics deserts, I’m compelled to reply to Dr. Anna Reinert’s insightful article on the closure of hospital labor and delivery units. This disaster is alarming and harmful.
Labor and supply models can not perform solely on supply days. They require fixed “stand-by” capability, together with surgeons, working room groups and anesthesiologists for emergency C-sections. These important prices will not be being adequately lined by Medi-Cal or non-public insurers.
To deal with this, federal and state officers, together with giant purchasers of personal insurance coverage, should mandate that each one insurers cowl these vital stand-by prices. Govt motion from the Biden administration may present a right away answer and garner assist from rural and under-served communities throughout America.
Susan Reynolds, M.D., Pacific Palisades